State and university officials know what they want – they just don’t know where to put it.

Officials are currently disagreeing on a future location for the Center for Excellence, an environmental research facility planned for the Syracuse area. A final decision on the location is expected to come in early 2004, but for now, the two sides are disagreeing as to where the center will be most effective.

The Center for Excellence is the latest stage of a regional initiative that began in 1996 to establish Central New York as an internationally recognized leader in technologies that monitor and control environments, said Edward Bogucz, dean of the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science. Bogucz is also the university’s executive director for the Center of Excellence.

‘We agree on lots of things,’ Bogucz said. ‘We’re just having trouble deciding on a location.’

In June 2002, Gov. George E. Pataki announced that SU would host one of five facilities designated for the Center of Excellence’s research. With the announcement, he promised $22 million, in addition to the state’s current $18-million grant, to be allocated toward building a new research facility.

The facility will host laboratories for research as well as a potential test-building itself for such effects as automobile exhaust.

The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and Syracuse University are two of 12 academic institutions that collaborate with 17 businesses in the project.

Each of the five centers has a specific area of interest, including bioinformatics, photonics, nanotechnology and wireless Internet and information technology. Pataki chose SU to specialize in environmental systems – with an emphasis on human health and performance – because of its proximity to other academic resources.

‘We have the right combination of people at SUNY-ESF, SU and Upstate Medical University,’ Bogucz said.

Some state officials, including Sen. John DeFrancisco, say the center should be built at the site of L.C. Smith’s old typewriter-manufacturing building in Midtown Plaza, located two blocks north of the Marx Hotel and Conference Center on Almond Street.

The state officials, who support a downtown location for the building, highly value the center’s prominent visibility, having those 100 employees in a location downtown and the side benefits to the surrounding communities, Bogucz said.

A downtown location will cost significantly more money for the state, Bogucz said. Pataki, though, is prepared to commit the extra few million dollars if the two parties agree on that location.

University officials hope to build the center at the southernmost part of South Campus.

‘We have the place, the power, the sewers, the water already prepared,’ Bogucz. ‘It’s already a part of campus transportation.’

University officials also argue that time is a factor.

New York state has a program called Build Now NY, which is a list of ‘shovel-ready’ sites that are preapproved and ready for development.

The program lists SU’s Research Park as a ready-to-build site. If officials agree on a site in early 2004, a building at the South Campus location could be completed by June 2006, Bogucz said. Construction at the Midtown Plaza would last until June 2007.

‘We’re eager to have a building as quickly as possible,’ Bogucz said. ‘There are other universities following in our lead, and building downtown takes a greater risk in others catching up and passing us.’

The location on South Campus would also allow room for expansion.

Some state officials support the university’s desire to host the facility on campus.

‘I see the decision as a no-brainer,’ said William Magnarelli, assemblyman for the 120th District, which includes Syracuse, Geddes and Van Buren.

Magnarelli chairs the Assembly Task Force of University and Industry Collaborations. He cites a similar center’s success in Albany as grounds for building on university property.

‘The vast majority of research should be done in an academic setting,’ Magnarelli said.

‘The essence of the Center for Excellence is a collaboration of academic institutions and businesses to advance science and economic development,’ said Neil Murphy, the president of SUNY-ESF. ‘We want to bring academics together with private industry.’

Published on November 10, 2003 at 12:00 pm